Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern returned home to the comforts of Jenkins Field House here Saturday evening and saw its 12 game home court win streak snapped as Florida Tech rallied from a six point second half deficit en route to posting a 99-93 Sunshine State Conference victory over the reigning Division II National Champion Moccasins.
During halftime of Saturday's game, Florida Southern celebrated 50 Year of Jenkins Field House as the Mocs played its first ever men's basketball in the gym on Dec. 3, 1965 against Rollins. And since that first game the 50 years ago, the Mocs have compiled an impressive 686-172 record at Jenkins Field House, including a 129-17 mark at home since the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
But, Florida Tech wasn't intimated by that long history of success by the Moccasins in their own building as the Panthers scored 59 second half points and shot 67 percent from the floor and 54 percent from the 3-point line after halftime to post the win and snap the Mocs' 12 game home court win streak, which was tied for the seventh longest active home court win streak in Division II men's basketball. Prior to Saturday's defeat, the last time the Mocs lost at home was in its SSC opener last season on Jan. 3, 2015, against Barry as the Mocs fell 107-102 to the Buccaneers.
The 99 points allowed in Saturday's game were the most allowed in a game by the Mocs this season and the most since allowing 107 against Barry last season.
"In a perfect world, we'd be clicking on all cylinders. We've had stretches in games where we have, but we're very inconsistent right now," Moccasin first year head coach Mike Donnelly said. "When you struggle with getting stops or making shots consistently, rebounding consistently, that what you are. You're an inconsistent team and right now, we've got to fight through it."
With the setback, the Mocs fell to 4-4 on the season, dropped its second consecutiuve games and is now 2-2 in the SSC, while Florida Tech improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the SSC. Saturday's loss followed its 91-89 setback on Wednesday at Saint Leo as the Mocs led 87-76 with a little under four minutes left in the game, before SLU closed the game on a 15-2 run to earn the victory and snap FSC's 17 game SSC win streak.
The 4-4 record after its eight games is the worst eight game start for the Mocs since the 2006-07 squad opened the season 3-5 en route to finishing with an 8-20 record in former coach Linc Darner's first season at the helm of the program.
"We've got seven guys returning and all they know is winning. This program, all they know is winning," said Donnelly, who is still stuck on 199 career wins. "Even though, at times, I looked on the court tonight and said we are new. And that's not an excuse, but it's reality."
Senior Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) did all he could do offensively to help the Mocs as he finished the game with 25 points and added nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. He scored 17 of those points after halftime.
In addition to Travis, four other Mocs finished in double figures on the night as senior guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) added 19 points and five assists, but was just 7-for-23 from the field in the game. Junior guard Trey Moore (Omaha, Neb.) had 13 points, while sophomore forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.) and junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) each had 12 points off the bench.
Florida Tech was led offensively on the night by Jordan Majors and Jermohn Queen as those two players combined to score 44 points as Majors finished with 23 points and Queen added 21 points and dished out eight assists in the win.
Patrick Anderson had 15 points, while Randy Echols added 14 points, incluidng 11 of them in the second half to aid in Tech's rally. Sam Daniel had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Isaac Spence also had 11 points for the Panthers.
The Mocs scored the first six points of the second half to push out to a 46-40 lead, before Tech used a 13-6 run to take a 53-52 lead. The Mocs would retake the lead on a trey from Williams with 13:24 left, before the Panthers answered with a 28-19 run over the next eight minutes to take an 81-71 lead with 5:47 left in the game. The run was capped by back-to-back triples from Echols.
FSC, though, wouldn't go away without a fight as they used a 5-0 run to pull within 81-76 with 3:55 left in the game. After Spence hit two free throws and Anderson hit a lay-up to give Tech an 85-76 lead with 2:36 left, the Mocs would respond with a 12-7 run capped by a Zablotny trey to push the Mocs within four at 92-88 with 43 seconds left.
The Mocs wouldn't get any closer, though as the Panthers hit 5-of-6 free throws and used a lay-up by Echols in the 40 seconds of the game to seal the victory.
For the game, the Mocs shot 41 percent from the field and 43 percent from the 3-point line and committed just nine turnovers, while Florida Tech shot 55 percent from the field and 41 percent from the 3-point line and outrebounded the Mocs, 43-41 and had 16 turnovers.
In the first half, the Mocs jumped out to a 21-11 in the opening seven minutes, before Tech answered with a 16-6 run capped by a lay-up from Majors to tie the game at 27 with 7:54 left in the game.
After Travis hit a jumper with 7:38 left to give the Mocs a 29-27 lead, the Panthers used a 13-8 run to take a 40-37 lead with 1:30 left in the opening half. The Mocs, though, would use a trey from Williams with 10 seconds left to tie the game at 40 at the half.
The Mocs will have little time to dwell on Saturday's loss as they hit the road for a non-conference game on Monday, Dec. 7 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., against Stillman College, who improved to 6-4 on the season following its 96-52 home win Saturday against Albany State.
